In the separation of particulate materials from fluid streams, the use of a vortexer or cyclone to extract large particulate materials by centrifugal acceleration is a known expedient. Such vortexers include a fine particulate material filter means adjacent the fluid outlet to further remove finer particulates.
When relatively heavy amounts of large particulate, fines and dust are present in the fluid stream to be cleaned, the filter's medium cakes or clogs quite rapidly. This necessitates the continual mechanical cleaning or replacement of such filter medium at frequent intervals, resulting in expensive labor and material costs.